There are two sides to every story.
It’s friends-at-first-sight for Jessie and Annie, proving the old adage that opposites attract. Shy, anxious Jessie would give anything to have Annie’s beauty and confidence. And Annie thinks Jessie has the perfect life, with her close-knit family and killer grades. They’re BFFs…until suddenly they’re not.
Told through alternating points of view, How It Ends is a wildly fast but deeply moving read about a friendship in crisis. Set against a tumultuous sophomore year of bullying, boys and backstabbing, the novel shows what can happen when friends choose assumptions and fear over each other.

This ended up being a pretty quick read, but a good one, about the ups and downs of friendship, the effects of rumours, and the strength of finding yourself. It went back and forth between the POVs of Annie and Jessie, showing how they became friends and how they slowly started to drift apart. Their friendship seemed so perfect at first but it felt very realistic that outside forces could slowly break them apart.

Jessie was the shy girl with no friends before Annie came into her life. She had anxiety, which made it hard for her to maintain any friendships, and she usually found solace in books over people. Annie was more outgoing but struggled at home with her new step-mother and step-sister. The two girls seemed destined to be friends and they definitely hit it off quickly. It was both sad and frustrating to see them drifting apart, especially over secrets and the popular crowd. I really wanted to scream at them to talk and listen to each other.

There was a bit of a romance in the book, with Annie beginning to date a boy that Jessie had a crush on, but it mostly stayed in the background. The main focused remained on the two girls and their growth separately and together. It was a brutal but realistic and honest journey of two very different girls navigating their way through high school and trying to find a way to both get what they wanted and needed from their friendship.

*I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

3 responses to “Book Review: How it Ends by Catherine Lo”

I was first drawn into this book by that pretty cover, but the whole plot sounded like it would be really enjoyable, as well. I’m glad to hear that the romance in the book stays in the background instead of taking over the entire story line, as is the case with a lot of books these days! Great review!